"Crown Jewels of Sport"

[t8yman]

is it that ott in comparison though? with ross, chiles and bleakley all leaving for itv within a month or so of each other?

[The Nal]

I bet Jeff Stelling doesnt get paid anywhere near what Lineker gets.

[Cardboard Box City]

I bet Jeff Stelling doesnt get paid anywhere near what Lineker gets.

[llcoolphil]

It's all in the effort to ensure the government can cut what they give to sport by allowing TV revenues to go up.

[oafc0000]

All I watch regularly on BBC is F1, Question Time and Panorama... I do use the BBC website as well... No radio...

If it didn't do F1 it would represent very bad value for money for me...

If it stopped doing one off events like the Olympics etc it would be a massive rip off...

[beLIEveR]

I think the BBC is a fantastic thing. But I'd have less of a problem with fewer or no crown jewels if the government took the nuclear option. The existence of a licence fee equates to a moral and legal obligation on them to ensure that events of national interest and importance are accessible.

[llcoolphil]

I can see why a lot of people would be annoyed by the blanket sports coverage you get on the BBC some weekends.

[ampersand]

Im interested why we talk about blanket sports coverage but we dont talk about wall to wall acting on the BBC. We dont say to someone who loves soaps that there was a war film on and its all just acting do we!

[Kowalski]

Just added that Outfoxed documentary to my Lovefilm list, looks right up my street.

I'm not too fussed about the cricket but it's ridiculous that it's the fans that lose that lose out again when discussions about the Crown Jewels come up. Sky's coverage of the Chumps League and Spanish Football is excellent, but I'd much rather have as many of the big events on the BBC as possible. It's just as well the likes of Wimbledon, Masters and British Open (recently extended BBC coverage to 2016) realise it's far better for their events to be broadcast on the Beeb rather than sell out.

The Ryder Cup is my biggest bugbear - no way should that be on Sky. I pay a lot for Sky, but yet I still have to put up with ridiculous amounts of adverts during events such as the Ryder Cup.

Edited July 21, 2010 by Kowalski

[Snufflebutt]

Sky already has most of the champs league coverage. Just look at the premiership, the tv revenue is so high they don't give 2 hoots about the sponsorship money. Formula 1 just isn't as popular enough for Murdoch to be interested - yet.

Whilst the stance of Wimbledon and The Masters is great, I don't think it will last. Especially if they lose lots more TV rights. If the BBC stops being associated with showing sport then the prestige goes.

The only reason that the other events listed are still free to air is that so far Murdoch hasn't seen a way to make enough cash from them to make it worth his while.

I do have to agree with what Neil said regarding the lovely RUpert. It all stinks to high heaven but nothing whatsoever will be done about it.

[llcoolphil]

British Open

[Kowalski]

F1 has been on Sky before, they were charging a PPV service per race for extra coverage, but not many people bothered.

[Kowalski]

No such competition

[Kowalski]

Decision has been deferred:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/front_page/8841725.stm

Edited July 21, 2010 by Kowalski

[TheGayTent]

When England won the Ashes in 2005 there was a national interest because it was on Channel 4, in 2009 it was on Sky and went by unnoticed by the majority.

[eFestivals]

Folk are just guessing that theres an agreement about live sport done by Murdoch with the Government - I'll be amazed if thats true. The Guardian article is pure speculation (its just the Left's Daily Mail after all)

I think you're being incredibly naive. Here's a recent example that's been widely reported of how things work in Murdoch world....

Peter Mandleson has just published his book on nu-Labour's time in office. It was published by one of Murdoch's companies (I forget which, but it's not important). Tony Blair has his own book coming out 6 weeks after Mandleson's, via a non-Murdoch company.

When Blair discovered that he was going to be beaten to publication by Mandleson, he didn't think that was right. So he phoned up Mandleson and asked if he could get the publication date moved till after his. Mandleson said (something like) "sorry old boy, but the deal is already signed, along with syndication rights and publicity schedules, so nothing can be changed".

Blair didn't give up. He decided that Murdoch owed him a few favours, so he phoned up Rupert, explained the situation and said "you owe me a few favours, so pleas e do this for me". Rupert replied with "I owe you nothing, it's you that owe me favours, I allowed you to be prime minister for 10 years".

It's very clear from that that Rupert sees himself as kingmaker, and that he makes someone king only for the trade-off benefit it brings him.

Edited July 21, 2010 by eFestivals

[oafc0000]

F1 has been on Sky before, they were charging a PPV service per race for extra coverage, but not many people bothered.

Edited July 21, 2010 by oafc0000

[dakyras]

yeah but youngster ronaldinho still only had what was next to his slum to learn his skills. he didn't have access to all of that land, lots of which is wild rainforest.